Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, chairman of UAE Banks Federation stated that digital banking is gaining speed in the UAE.

In fact, McKinsey’s latest research reveals that at least 80 per cent of urban consumers in the UAE prefer to use digital channels to execute a portion of their banking. The digitization of the banking landscape is shifting further towards mobile platforms, whereby a study conducted by KPMG last year underlines the growing consumer reliance on mobile solutions to fulfill their banking needs. It appears that Saudi Arabia and the UAE are leading the way with a mobile banking adoption rate of 60 per cent and 52 per cent, respectively.

As a result, banks in the UAE are increasing their investment in digital innovation, focusing on improving their mobile banking security and user experience. This allows consumers in the UAE to benefit from access to the latest in banking technology, including biometrics, augmented reality, or contactless payments.

Nowadays, banks are vigorously using advanced analytics to generate insights that will improve their risk assessment and drive revenue. The business-wide use of data and analytics enables banks to better understand their customers and develop tailored service offerings.

In addition, the UAE Banks Federation has been leading initiatives in developing an open banking platform that will connect the member banks with governmental department ecosystems such as the Emirates Identity Authority, which increases financial transparency for account holders and security and consumer protection.

The emirate wants to also become the first blockchain-powered government in the world by 2020 in order to make government services more efficient and foster thousands of business opportunities in the private sector. This move integrates the most disruptive of all emerging technologies to ensure the highest degree of transaction security, and transforms the banking and financial industry.

As a matter of fact, the UAE banks federation has established a digital committee with the core objective of utilizing the blockchain technology to align the financial institutions with the government vision.